11th Street story 62 1951

Robert Frank made this collection of frames, titled 11th Street story 62, sometime during his life. The way these film strips are laid out, it's like a comic, or even better, a storyboard. I'm immediately drawn to the handwritten '62' scrawled across the middle; it gives the whole piece a casual, work-in-progress vibe. The grain of the film is so present, it’s almost tactile, like you could run your fingers over it and feel the grit of the street. Look at how Frank captures snippets of people – a woman laughing, a man in profile – and bits of the urban landscape. It’s like he’s saying, "Here’s a moment, a fragment, a feeling." Frank reminds me of Helen Levitt; both had this knack for capturing the poetry of the everyday. Ultimately, art isn’t about answers; it’s about keeping the conversation going.